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Congrès International sur l’Analyse du Cycle de Vie Lille, Novembre 2011
Case study: Simplified LCA as a design tool for developing fish processing machinery
The simplified LCA study as a tool to identify environmental hotspots was used in the early phase
of a PD process of new fish processing machinery. The study was conducted by one member of the
design team who had previous experience with LCA and a background in mechanical engineering. The
inventory analysis was based upon similar existing machinery with the same function as the intended new
product being developed. The work was done in parallel with the PD process, and the results were
communicated back to the team. There were no external driver for the use of design for environment
methods or tools, and no formal requirements of environmental performance that the new machinery had
to comply with apart from the CE approval.
Findings
In this case study, the need to understand contextual aspects in order to develop and implement
useful design tools based upon LCA methodology became clear. Although the use of a simplified LCA
showed promising results, the lack of external drivers for eco design made it harder to justify the use of
resources within this area in the PD process. The case study concludes that environmental agitators and
trained designers need to be the drivers of design for environment methodology and LCA based design
tools, by proving and communicating the benefits from using such tools in practice. To avoid this becoming
an uphill battle, environmental agitators in a design group need to be both legitimate and credible. The
empowerment and integration of environmental agitators in a design group need to be done seamlessly
with the knowledge and information shared throughout the whole product development process to gain the
most benefit from the utilized methods and tools, to ensure system thinking and avoid end of pipe
solutions.
References
[1] D. Millet, L. Bistagnino, C. Lanzavecchia, R. Camous, and T. Poldma, “Does the potential of the
use of LCA match the design team needs?,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 335-346,
2007.
[2] R. Karlsson and C. Luttropp, “EcoDesign: what’s happening? An overview of the subject area of
EcoDesign and of the papers in this special issue,” Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 14, no. 15-16, pp.
1291-1298, 2006.
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